50 responses so far ↓

• 1 steve // Feb 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm

  I think this wort of stuff could be the ruin of SU. If more of this non-content infests the community, someone will eventually start a new site that has this sort of crap moderated out.

• 2 Evelyn // Feb 9, 2008 at 11:52 pm

  Well, if the Joker Stumplecard is not endoresed by stumbleupon themselves, then I must say that I do feel taken somewhat.
  But the psycology of why I thought it was interesting and fun to see how many cards I would happen upon; and what picture was on the next card was what prompted me to want to play.
  I guess there is a little fun to it after all.
  But, who profits is my question?

• 3 Joe // Feb 10, 2008 at 12:16 am

  Well, as long as we keep it clever and limited (and non-spam), I like the prospect! When I stumbled the joker today I got really excited.

• 4 Sucker // Feb 10, 2008 at 1:25 am

  I got the joker, too, and thought it was cool at the time. The thing is, if you just search stumbleupon for the tag “stumblecards” you’ll find any that are added to the “series” so it’s not that big of a deal to “collect them all.”

• 5 Nick Wilsdon // Feb 10, 2008 at 3:17 am

  Thanks for the comments everyone

  @Steve

  Agreed. If there are too many of these appearing I can see people quickly turning off the idea. The images on the first two were actually very good. You can see some PhotoShop effort went into them. The Joker image seems to have been around for a while, possibly connected to the new film coming out.

  @Evelyn

  That was exactly my question. Where is the profit in this? On the joker card site you can see Adsense, which might explain it but this is not the case on the others I have seen. Maybe this is just a way to raise the profile of people’s sites. After all, I’ve linked to them here!

  @Joe

  It’s a very clever idea psychologically. It makes you feel that you have stumbled upon something unusual or special. Like a golden ticket in a chocolate bar. I’ve seen a lot of people wonder what they have ‘won’.

  Do you think they will continue to be positive towards the idea once they realise there is no prize? Like you, I don’t know where this is going but it seems unlikely to me that this is an official marketing promotion.

  I saw someone mention this maybe connected to the new Batman film, The Dark Knight but I can’t see the connection with the other cards. The Joker card would seem a little too obvious too.

  @Sucker

  I’ve found one that isn’t showing up on the “stumblecard” tag, maybe because it’s from the same site as the Joker?

  http://www.uhrensohn.com/stumblecard_211.html

  These two have also appeared in the last few hours:

  http://orion.pointto.us/stumblecard/
  http://li-zhang.net/stumblecard_link.html

• 6 NewLifeFromHeaven // Feb 10, 2008 at 4:23 am

  This is truly an interesting phenomena!

• 7 Joe // Feb 10, 2008 at 5:04 am

  I just stumbled link about 5 minutes ago. I sense a storm a’ brewin.

• 8 Eeyore67 // Feb 10, 2008 at 5:25 am

  Yet another way to ruin stumble upon! These people are getting traffic to their site that is what is to be gained. People are always looking for ways to ruin a good thing. I thought woohoo when I got the joker then I took off the ending of the web address and was sent to some foreign language site. I will leave stumbleupon if this keeps up! Why are these people allowed to ruin it?

• 9 Debt Professor // Feb 10, 2008 at 5:28 am

  I gave it a thumbs down earlier today, and I’m glad I did. What I don’t understand is how the ad gets approved from Stumbleupon. I had a picture that said give a thumbs up if you like this, and it got declined by stumbleupon….

• 10 damien // Feb 10, 2008 at 5:45 am

  StumbleUpon will overcome such obstacles. You see, those of us who have no interest in such cards will thumbs down them and in turn, such sites won’t be suggested to us by SU. People who go for them will have it in common with others and can stumble upon more of them as they’d like.

• 11 Warner Carter // Feb 10, 2008 at 6:49 am

  http://www.upnatom.org/stumblecards/stumblecard_009.htm Attack of the Toy Robots.

  If this isn’t being done by Stumbleupon, can they stop this? Or will they think maybe it is somehow useful promotion?

• 12 adam atom // Feb 10, 2008 at 7:13 am

  If anyone is interested… there is now a facebook group you can join?

  What will they think of next?

• 13 adam atom // Feb 10, 2008 at 7:17 am

  sorry I forgot the link to the facebook group…

  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8168543529

• 14 Nick Wilsdon // Feb 10, 2008 at 8:16 am

  @Eeyore67

  Yes, they maybe getting traffic but there isn’t any obvious monitorization (i.e. adverts). I don’t think this viral is coming from the marketing community, they would attempt to convert the traffic more obviously. There aren’t adverts plastered all over these sites (except for the Joker card)

  @Debt Professor

  Very good point. They are asking for a thumbs up which is against the TOS (AFAIK). That would be grounds for SU banning these pages from appearing in the system.

  @Warner

  I don’t think this is anything official by SU (I maybe wrong but that is my opinion). However I see one of the latest ones:

  http://odisodum.com/stumblecards/bigeyedbabybag-stumblecard.html

  Comes with an explanation by the author, “I got bored and decided to make a StumbleCard”. Seems this maybe the first spontaneous viral to hit SU.

  @adam

  Thanks for the Facebook link. It makes you wonder how far this thing will go.

• 15 Sierra // Feb 10, 2008 at 9:49 am

  I don’t understand you. Why didn’t you ask StumbleUon team about this?

• 16 Evelyn // Feb 10, 2008 at 10:45 am

  I think I might know who it is that is doing it. It only hit me now. I remember yesterday I stumbled onto another one and it was linked to this young guys website who said he wanted to become coolest “asian in the universe” according to his claim.

  He said he was born in China, but now lives in the south USA somewhere, went to school in the south and now wants to become number one in google. I lost his link unless you can link to it from the above. I actually did leave a comment on his website though.

• 17 adam // Feb 10, 2008 at 11:19 am

  I found a new one by up’n'@tom that has a ‘puzzle icon’ on the bottom of the card. Maybe there’s a puzzle to solve, like you have to collect them all before you find out?

• 18 Nick Wilsdon // Feb 10, 2008 at 1:18 pm

  @adam

  Yes found them too -

  http://www.upnatom.org/stc020.htm
  http://www.upnatom.org/seriously/stm67ecrd_004.htm

  The ones at uP’n’@tOm definitely have more artistic quality than the others. Something tells me that these are the origional stumblecards and the others are fakes.

  However it’s almost like uP’n’@tOm doesn’t realise that you can’t submit too many pages of the same site to SU. I’m pretty sure this is why these new cards are not appearing on the tagged pages:

  http://www.stumbleupon.com/tag/stumblecards/
  http://www.stumbleupon.com/tag/stumblecard/

  The traffic and visibility they have in SU will gradually drop off and stop this viral spreading unless they use more websites. I guess one idea might be to use blogger or other free platforms. Ideally they would want other people to join in on their sites.

• 19 adam // Feb 10, 2008 at 2:33 pm

  @ Nick

  Yeah I agree with your 1st point, there are bound to be copycats. However, re: point 2… maybe upnatom wants to make it a little harder to find them? I mean that is one of the fun things about collecting cards isn’t? The fact that there are some rare hard to find cards that you have to hunt down in order to collect the whole set.

• 20 Nick Wilsdon // Feb 10, 2008 at 2:50 pm

  @Evelyn

  I have a feeling the guy that started this is closer to Australia than China/USA. I like the concept though & v.interested to see if it’s going anywhere…

  @Sierra

  As I wrote above, I’m 99% sure this isn’t sanctioned by the SU team. It’s the weekend though, we may not see any response to this until Monday.

• 21 Sean // Feb 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm

  I do not see why anyone would be giving these stupid things a thumbs up. The premise that randomly you have stumbled onto one and should give it a thumbs up does not make sense.

  If you wanted the whole set you could just enter the phrase stumblecards into the stumble search box and click away until you see all of them.

  Stumble upon is a brilliant concept that hopefully will keep moving forward and past attempts like these to drag it down.

• 22 Evelyn // Feb 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm

  Yes, Nick, it would be great to see how the concept does evolves and into what. Maybe you’ve hit on the ultimate marketing concept ever! If you do, please include me in it, I need and want all the help I can get marketing my own website which I need to market both local and internationally in order to be successful.
  I can hardly wait:)

• 23 Nick Wilsdon // Feb 10, 2008 at 3:28 pm

  @Evelyn

  Just to clarify. I didn’t set this up. I do think it is a novel and interesting way to engage the SU crowd. I know many have condemned it for spam but for others it has provided a little mystery; a game. Maybe that is not such a bad thing.

  Personally I think marketing should be inventive and entertaining to the audience. That is why this viral interested me.

  @Sean

  Yes that is the interesting part. Maybe they like the pictures (the uP’n’@tOm designs are actually pretty good). Maybe they are buying into the ‘game’ and wondering of they can win something. Maybe they just think this is an inventive and origional idea.

  People in this thread have their own answers. I know why I gave them a thumbs up.

• 24 God // Feb 10, 2008 at 6:16 pm

  I quite like it, adds an interesting element to the already-addictive stumbling.
  I myself have 5 now :D

• 25 adam // Feb 11, 2008 at 4:21 am

  I have found the supposed official site for ’stumblecards’… http://www.upnatom.org

  There is a gallery of all the cards, well 5 only so far?

  The plot thickens?

• 26 cajuncarla // Feb 11, 2008 at 4:25 am

  I am having fun with collecting the cards. Adds another element of fun to my stumbling. I guess each is entitled to their own opinion. I have tried to do some research into this before I made my decision. Being as stumbleupon decided to remove our ranking page, it gives me something to have fun with and banter back and forth with with my stumbling friends!

• 27 WRCS // Feb 12, 2008 at 1:53 am

  One word applies.
  SPAM.
  If you want to advertise within StumbleUpon be an honest citizen and pay for it.

• 28 James Duthie // Feb 12, 2008 at 3:25 am

  Hmmm… this seems awfully gimmicky. I can’t see the value it adds to Stumblers. It may appeal to some, but I suspect serious Stumblers will give it a unanimous thumbs down.

• 29 Kristen // Feb 12, 2008 at 3:28 am

  That Joker card is very scary looking. I might not want to stumble it if I ever saw it. Creepy.

• 30 Adam Maywald // Feb 12, 2008 at 4:49 am

  Wow! If this is some marketing ploy, I love the idea. You seriously have to give credit where credit is due.

• 31 viral-marketing stumblecards stumblecard stumbleupon // Feb 12, 2008 at 12:24 pm

  [...] Stumblecards: Viral Marketing For StumbleUpon?Is it just a way of… [...]

• 32 Internet Marketing Joy // Feb 12, 2008 at 5:01 pm

  I haven’t stumbled this before…I’m kinda curious now..I hope I get to stumble it later..^^

• 33 Interview With StumbleCards Creator, Adam Atom // Feb 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm

  [...] Stumblecards: Viral Marketing For StumbleUpon?Is it just a way of… [...]

• 34 Stumblecards - a new “trend” of the StumbleUpon Community # Ruelicke.net // Feb 14, 2008 at 6:06 pm

  [...] Again I found an article, this time about Stumblecards: Viral Marketing For StumbleUpon?. [...]

• 35 RC // Feb 16, 2008 at 12:44 am

  Shouldn’t it be possible to ask StumbleUpon themselves, if this is real/from them? We all seem to be wondering about that. If it isn’t at least official, all the cards should be thrown out as spam.

• 36 Jason // Feb 17, 2008 at 6:50 am

  I can not believe that people actually give a sh!t… So what if you come across a stupid card. So what!!! … And is that really a reason to “leave stumble if it keeps happening?” To me, that’s just like saying, “I’M NEVER GONNA DRIVE ON THIS DAMN HIGHWAY AGAIN IF THEY KEEP PUTTING UP THOSE BILLBOARDS.”
  If you don’t like the cards, then just ignore them and go about your business. I personally think they’re stupid… and have ZERO interest in the “mystery.” …

  WHAT MYSTERY? It’s a marketing tactic… so be it.

• 37 jesome // Feb 17, 2008 at 10:32 am

  that what the thumbs are for
  just give it the DOWN and stumble on

• 38 Newt // Feb 17, 2008 at 10:58 am

  Makes me sick to think that SU will soon be a marketing tool flooded with crap like this. Don’t like it.

• 39 Brian // Feb 17, 2008 at 5:28 pm

  I give a thumbs down to anything associated with said stumblecards. Sorry. :)

• 40 Adam Atom // Feb 17, 2008 at 8:12 pm

  This is just a bit of fun, I started this to make your stumbles a bit more interesting.
  I’ve received alot of negative reviews, some truly sick to be honest and for that reason I have decided to STOP making these cards, I’m sorry how things ended up, but that wasn’t my wish when I started.

  —GAME OVER—

• 41 Adam Atom // Feb 18, 2008 at 1:25 am

  @ Adam Atom

  I must have been sleep-walking again… turned on my computer and posted the previous comment? Funny how that can happen…

  Let me just say that, I am still making the cards, and will do so until all 25 are done!

  Although I do agree with most of Adam’s comment, the game is FAR FROM OVER!

• 42 Adam Atom // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:59 pm

  @ Adam Atom, Feb 18th, 01:25 comment

  Please, you are not falling anybody but yourself with your lies.

  Like I said previously, things have gone too far, I have received some very nasty emails which pushed me into making the decision to stop making these cards.

  I apologize for creating all this fuss, it was fun to begin with. I do have some other ideas up my sleeve which won’t involve StumbleUpon.

  That really is all.. A.Atom

  –GAME OVER–

• 43 Adam Atom // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:01 am

  @ Adam Atom

  You shouldn’t wag English class… You missed out on learning how to spell!

  As for stumblecards, you needn’t make any more because you never made any in the first place.

  If you are so offended by SCs that you must pretend to be someone you’re not in the hope that it will help stop them, then I feel very sorry for you. You must have a lot of time on your hands. Why don’t you spend it inhabiting your own miserable persona instead of attempting to ride on someone else’s coat-tails?

• 44 Reality Crowd » Blog Archive » Stumblecards and Social Media Psychology // Feb 19, 2008 at 4:04 am

  [...] are stumbecards. Rarely has any topic (other than Spam) elicited such a huge response…both positive and [...]

• 45 Samantha // Feb 21, 2008 at 4:13 pm

  I wish there was a way to ban these things. They’re obnoxious and I get severely irritated every time one of the stupid things pops up.

• 46 judith // Feb 22, 2008 at 5:42 pm

  I have been “stumbling” for 4 years now, and it is a wonderful application and can be addicting. The stumble cards are not what I want to find in my searches. I can see them being in my subject choices, other than that, I dislike them. They are annoying, and much like an advertisement to me. I can see it being the ruin for stumbleupon, as I would look for other ways to explore the web.

• 47 judith // Feb 22, 2008 at 5:50 pm

  I must comment on the view made, about billboards and driving down the highway. I make a choice of which “kinds’ of sites i choose to stumbleupon… the cards are defeating this choice of mine. They are popping up as spam, and that is one of the reasons i want to stumble…to choose where my explorations lead. So, yes, I would choose to drive down a different highway, if given the choice to do so, If the roadsigns were significantly bothering me. (the operative word being ’significantly’)

• 48 Greg // Feb 23, 2008 at 7:40 pm

  What I find most ironic is that I stumbled upon this site which talks about stumble upon cards and their viral nature. Good one guys - sneaky and effective! I’m going to start a site which talks about sites that talk about viral sites. LOL!

  g.

• 49 Interview With StumbleCards Creator, Adam Atom // Mar 25, 2008 at 6:06 pm

  [...] week I’ve been spending a lot of time covering the first StumbleUpon viral, as the story broke and from the perspective of an internet marketer. For my last post on the subject it seemed fair to [...]

• 50 RateMyLeftArm.com // Mar 27, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  Stumble cards are a great marketing idea, but they are quite annoying to users, because they are lame. There are lots of cool images on stumble, they just never seem to appear on a stumble card.

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